NOVEMBER is Prematurity Awareness Month and local couple Christine and Brendan Brookhouse are taking on the Premmie Marathon Challenge, raising funds to help premature and critically ill babies have a better chance of survival.

To date, Christine and Brendan have completed 34 kilometres (km) of their 100 km marathon goal.

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Christine noted that she decided to join the fundraising movement at the last minute.

“I was asked by a friend of the founder if I could help share the message about the Premmie Marathon challenge and thought why not do it, and while I’m at it, I will throw Brendan in as well.”

For the founder of Running for Premmie Babies, Sophie Smith, the connection to the cause is more personal.

In 2006 Sophie and her husband Ash lost all three of their prematurely born triplets. Henry was born at 21 weeks, too early for medical intervention to save him, and he lived for one precious hour.

Jasper and Evan were born at 24 weeks and were cared for at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Royal Hospital for Women, Randwick.

On the day that Sophie went into labour with Jasper and Evan, there was a critical shortage of NICU beds in Sydney, and she was warned that her babies might need to be transferred interstate, with the possibility of her babies being separated.

Luckily, Sophie’s boys weren’t born for another three days, by which time two NICU beds had become available at the Royal Hospital for Women.

Tragically, despite huge efforts to save their lives, Jasper and Evan were unable to overcome their prematurity.

Evan passed away from a brain haemorrhage when he was ten days old.

The first time Sophie and Ash held their son was when his doctors removed his life support and he died in their arms.

Their third triplet, Jasper, overcame many hurdles, doubling his birth weight, and they shared many happy memories, but he suffered from chronic lung disease and the ventilators available were unable to support him.

When Jasper was 58 days old his lungs collapsed and no more could be done to save him.

When their babies were in hospital, Sophie and Ash realised that most of the machines that kept their boys alive were donated and learned that the hospital relies on fundraising for 70 percent of the equipment in the unit.

They also never forgot the shortage of equipment at the time of their birth.

What began as a quest to run the SMH Half Marathon and raise $20,000 for one new humidicrib for the hospital, in memory of their boys, has grown into what is now the Running for Premature Babies Foundation.

The Foundation has so far raised over $5 million for life saving neonatal equipment and funded research to solve the many mysteries of prematurity and advance the care of premature babies for the future.

To date over 8000 babies have directly benefited from this fundraising and some of the very sickest babies may not have survived without it.

Fundraising from the Premmie Marathon Challenge will help to provide lifesaving neonatal equipment for Neonatal Intensive Care and Special Care Units around Australia.

This equipment can help improve and save the lives of the one in ten babies born prematurely.

Please head to the Running for Premature Babies website to make a donation.

Visit https://www.runningforprematurebabies.com/fundraisers/christinebrookhouse